SHORDITCH, John II (d.1407), of Chelsea, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. of John Shorditch I* m. Ellen (d. by Oct. 1407), 2s. inc. John, at least 3da.1

Offices Held

Commr. of sewers, Mdx. Dec. 1399; oyer and terminer Feb. 1405.

J.p. Mdx. 4 Aug. 1401-d.

Collector of a royal aid, Mdx. Dec. 1401, of taxes Nov. 1404.

Biography

Shorditch first appears as one of the sureties named by his father, an influential Middlesex landowner, at the time of his return to the Parliament of January 1380. The two men were evidently very close, for they often acted together as trustees and witnesses to local property transactions. Among those who made them both feoffees-to-uses were the two shire knights Sir Adam Francis* and Godfrey atte Perry*; but John Shorditch II was alone a party to conveyances of the manors of Stanwell, Middlesex, Knebworth, Hertfordshire, and Northill, Bedfordshire.2 He also joined with his father in acquiring the manor of Gunnersbury, Middlesex, from Thomas Charlton in 1390, being confirmed in his title by a fine sued out in the court of common pleas. His home appears to have been in Chelsea, where his father owned property and where his own elder son, also named John, was later found to receive £10 a year in profits as lord of the manor. It was here that he expressed a wish to be buried, beside his wife, in a chapel which he had built in the local parish church.3

Having twice represented Middlesex in Parliament, Shorditch went on to become more closely involved in local government as a j.p., commissioner and tax collector. He stood surety for the shire knights who were returned by him and others at the Middlesex parliamentary elections of 1407, but died shortly afterwards, during the late autumn of that year. Although he predeceased his father, and thus never came into possession of a substantial patrimony, Shorditch was clearly a man of some influence in his own right. In his will of 6 Oct. 1407 he made provision for a chantry to be established for the good of the souls of his relatives and friends, including the former archbishop of Canterbury, Roger Walden, who had named him among his executors. Walden’s brother, John*, was in turn chosen to execute Shorditch’s will. By 1426 the bulk of the family estates had come into the hands of the deceased’s elder son, who then represented Middlesex in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

  • 1. Guildhall Lib. London, 9171/2, f. 109d.
  • 2. C138/29/53; C219/9/7; CP25(1)151/81/151, 83/34; Corporation of London RO, hr 133/34; CCR, 1396-9, p. 292; 1399-1402, pp. 399-400, 508; 1405-8, p. 316.
  • 3. CP25(1)151/79/106; Feudal Aids, vi. 489; Guildhall Lib. 9171/2, f. 109d.
  • 4. C219/10/4; Guildhall Lib. 9171/2, f. 109d; Corporation of London RO, hr 155/42; R. Gough, Sepulchral Mons. ii (2), 19; Lambeth Pal. Lib. Reg. Arundel i. f. 227.